2026 Fellowship Recipient Announcement

Fellowship Recipient Announcements

Storyknife is grateful to the individuals and foundations who support fellowships. A fellowship is not just an opportunity for a writer to have designated time and space to devote to their craft, it is an affirmation of the importance of their work. Fellowship recipients are working at the top of their craft.

The Aglauti Fellowship sponsored by Pearl Brower, Marilyn Romano, and Rhonda Sleighter

In Iñupiaq, Aglauti means “to write it down,” “to record it,” “to write for him/her.” The Aglauti Fellowship will be awarded to an Alaska Native or Indigenous writer. Preference will be given to writers working on bi-lingual or multi-lingual texts (not translation) or in the field of children’s or young adult literature. We’d like to encourage the next generation of writers, inspire, encourage, support women writers; it’s all about a ripple effect.

This year’s Agluati fellows are Luci Tapahonso and Emmy Her Many Horses.

Barbara G. Peters Fellowship for Crime or Historical Fiction sponsored by Robert Rosenwald

The Barbara G. Peters Fellowship will be awarded each year to a writer of crime fiction or historical fiction. Barbara G. Peters founded the globally renowned Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1989, and in the years since has become a supporter and mentor of crime fiction authors the world over. She and her husband, Robert Rosenwald, founded Poisoned Pen Press, a publishing house which was acquired by and merged into Soucebooks in 2018. Barbara has been recognized by Mystery Writers of America, Malice Domestic, and twice by Bouchercon for extraordinary service to the mystery genre.

This year’s Barbara G. Peters fellow is Jeneé Skinner.

Evangeline Atwood Fellowship sponsored by the Atwood Foundation

This fellowship is named for Maud “Evangeline” Rasmuson Atwood who was born in Alaska in 1906. Steeped deeply in journalism and Alaska history, Evangeline Atwood was a civic organizer and philanthropist, organizing such community groups as the Cook Inlet Historical Society and the Anchorage Chapter of the League of the Women Voters. She was a past president of the Anchorage Women’s Club, the Alaska Federation of Women’s Clubs, and the Alaska Statehood Association. This fellowship is for an Alaskan writer.

This year’s Evangeline Atwood fellow is Ariadne Will.

Fireweed Fellowship sponsored by John and Rika Mouw

The Fireweed fellowship will be awarded each year to an Alaska Native or Indigenous woman writer under the age of 45. The sponsors, John and Rika Mouw, have chosen to lift the voice of an Indigenous woman writer in a world where First People’s voices continue to be drowned out by an ongoing history of colonization, and further so, for Indigenous women, in the largely patriarchal society in which we live. Indigenous women have been the traditional and ongoing protectors of water and land for future generations

This year’s Fireweed fellow is Emily Si’al.

Joan Perry Barnes Fellowship in Crime Fiction sponsored by Dana Stabenow

Dana Stabenow’s mother, Joan Perry Barnes, was a voracious reader. There were always books around the house and on the boat, usually cheap paperbacks which was all anyone could afford back then. She let Dana read anything she wanted to, and because she read a lot of mysteries, Dana did, too.  Dana sponsored a Storyknife fellowship in crime fiction in her name because while she would have read everything written by all Storyknife fellows, she would have reached for the mysteries first. The Joan Perry Barnes Fellowship will be awarded each year to a woman writer who pursues crime fiction.

This year’s Joan Perry Barnes fellow is Laurie Dove.

Katahdin Fellowship for Maine Writers sponsored by Patrice Krant

The Katahdin Fellowship will be awarded each year to one woman writer from the state of Maine. Sponsor Patrice Krant is a 1978 University of Maine graduate who has retired to Alaska, but part of her heart will always reside in Maine. This gift is her way of sharing her adopted home with women writers from Maine, and she knows that the cross-pollination of these two magical places will be fruitful for both communities.

This year’s Katahdin fellow is Elizabeth Iversen.

Kenai Lake Fellowship sponsored by Jacqueline Carr

This fellowship supports a short story writer or personal essayist. In recognition of the power of these shorter forms, Jacqueline Carr sponsors this fellowship in honor of this work.

This year’s Kenai Lake fellow is Chioma Iwunze-Ibiam.

The Rona Jaffe Foundation Fellowship sponsored by the Rona Jaffe Foundation

The Rona Jaffe Foundation Fellowship is intended to support the four-week residency of an emerging woman writer who will be a first-time resident at Storyknife. For the purposes of this Fellowship, “emerging writers” are defined as those who are as yet unpublished to those just completing full length manuscripts. Competitive candidates have usually begun to publish their work in literary journals. This fellowship is given to the most promising candidates based on their writing sample.

The Rona Jaffe Foundation fellow for this year is Yvette DeChavez.

And next year, we are pleased to announce two new fellowship sponsors.

Carol Shields Prize Foundation Fellowship sponsored by the Carol Shields Prize Foundation

The Carol Shields Prize Foundation Fellowship will be awarded each year to a writer selected to continue Storyknife’s mission of supporting women writers from historically excluded communities.

The Koyaanisqatsi Fellowships sponsored by The de Groot Foundation

The Koyaanisqatsi Fellowships (2) will be awarded to writers exploring the personal, social, environmental, global and spiritual challenges of creating equilibrium in today’s world. Koyaanisqatsi comes from the Hopi understanding that all life exists in relationship and that well-being depends on living in balance with the natural world, one another, and the spiritual dimensions of life. The word itself is often translated as “life out of balance,” reminding us that imbalance can exist within a culture, community, relationship, or a single life and that whenever certainty replaces curiosity, speed replaces reflection, or consumption replaces connection, we drift toward koyaanisqatsi. Restoring balance begins by asking questions and exploring what makes our ecosystems whole.

Learn more about the fellowships, their sponsors, and recipients here.